Saturday, 26 October 2013

An American sage

Autobiography

By Thomas Jefferson. 1743-1826

With the Declaration of Independence, 1821.

This review was written on February 22nd 2012

This was one of the first books I bought on the
Kindle.Jefferson played a crucial
part in formulating the Declaration of Independence which was issued by
Congress in 1776. ‘’A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States
of America in general Congress assembled’’ It was an early autobiography which
he finished in 1790. Jefferson became the third President of America and was
re-elected for a second term. He died at the age of 83.

Monticello

I was aware of Jefferson’s important role
during the formation of the United States after the break with England in 1776.
In 1985 Louise and I stayed with Richard Crampton, a colleague of mine married
to Julia, an Irishwomen. Richard was professor of medicine in Charlottesville
in South Carolina and was later to spend a month with me as visiting professor
at St. Vincent’s. I was living alone at Leeson Park at the time. He stayed in
my house and I remember most distinctly the massive telephone bill he left
behind. He seemed to spend all his time in my home on the ‘phone! He graciously
left me a cheque for £100 when he was leaving. We visited Jefferson’s home,
Monticello, at the time of our visit to his home. I wrote the following note
about Jefferson in a letter to my children after our visit there.

This is the home of Thomas Jefferson
who was a remarkable man and who made enormous contributions to American
science, culture, politics, education and industry during and after the American
Revolution. I visited his home in Charlottesville and I was amazed by the
number of innovative ideas he formulated and his inventions, and by his
extraordinary wide interests and energy. I find biography very interesting
because it teaches us so much about the talents of other people and undoubtedly
can be an important stimulus and inspiration to ourselves.

The name of Jefferson’s home was Monticello. It
is now a widely visited and greatly evocative museum. It is clear from his
earlier years that he was hugely influentialnot only in advising about the prospect and the
inevitability of the break with England but that he played a major role in the
difficult task of bringing all the eleven states then in existence together as
a united nation with common political and national interests and with a
constitution which would ensure their unity through a common President and an
effective Congress to organise and direct theeconomic, legislative, judicial and international policies
of the nation.

It appears that as well as encouraging the
unity of the states and in furthering the independence movement, he was a man
whose thoughts and ideas had a fructifying effect on the minds of his
colleagues. His interests were wide and his influence was compelling just as he
appeared to have the patience and the realism to face opposition and often to
wait for another day.

An important part of his early biography
included his few years as ambassador to France during the French revolution. He
took a deep interest in the early years of the revolution and he was not slow
to air his views about the genesis of the final collapse of French political
society. His advice, if accepted, would certainly have prevented the execution
of the King and Queen, the disloyalty to the Crown and the widespread adoption
of the guillotine. He is convincing in his view that the Queen was the major
influence which led to the failure of the King and many of the clergy and
nobles to reach a rational and peaceful accord with the common people. Having
read a biography of Edmund Burke a few years ago and knowing how rational was
his approach to the American revolution and how his views conflicted with the
bellicose King George 111, the Tories and other politicians, and knowing how
concerned he was about the effects of the French Revolution on European affairs
and international society, it would be interesting to know how closely Burke
and Jefferson’s views were shared about these two periods of history.Jefferson believed that all men are
equal. His life was contemporaneous with the writings of Paine in his Rights of
Man and Jefferson’s whole political life was based on this self-evident
truth.Paine himself in his famous
book and in his prolonged stay in America greatly influenced the progress of
the revolution.

When Jefferson at last was released from his
duties as ambassador to France and allowed to return to America to meet again
with his family and to resume his life there, he was immediately asked to
become secretary of State by General Washington. He was reluctant to take on
the task being anxious to retire to the comfort and repose of a country
gentleman. However he was unable to resist the strong influence of Washington
and thus found himself thrown into the active political cauldron of the nascent
American States.

Jefferson left Le Havre for the United States
about the 22nd of September. He crossed the channel to Cowes to catch a clipper
for Norfolk in the United States. Between contrary winds and other problems it
took him two months to reach Norfolk! This is a reminder of the immense amount
of time he spent in travelling during his adult life, both in the United States
and in Europe. Apart form his many journeys, travel for him seems to have been
a leisurely affair as he not infrequently used to spend many days staying with
colleagues and friends during his journeys. The invention of the railways in
the mid 1800s surely must have had a profound effect on society, at least in
terms of reduced travel time and in making travel between people and between
nations so much easier.

Jefferson was born in 1743 in Albemarle County,
Virginia, and died on July 4 1826. He was President of the United States from
1801-1809.

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Risteárd Mulcahy.

Reasons why...

As a doctor advising patients, I knew that cigarette smoking was the most addictive habit known to Man. At least I thought so until I tried to stop writing. I have written twelve books, and like the smokers, I used to suffer withdrawal effects if I had nothing to write. So, to keep my restlessness at bay, I began to write reviews of all the books I was reading and I found these exercises hugely educational. There are about 130 in all – so far! This blog records some of them , and a few other personal scribbles. Mistakes? There will be many, no doubt, and no doubt they will be mine. This is a very personal contribution to the literature and is in no way an academic text. Enjoy.